


all i want is one more life with you

by winter_bunny



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Childhood Friends, F/M, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Memories, Reunions, Theon Greyjoy Lives
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:01:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26198275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/winter_bunny/pseuds/winter_bunny
Summary: „How much did Robb tell you about his relationship with Theon?“ Jon asked her.Jeyne shrugged. „As I said, not much. I barely remember actually. I’ve no idea in which context we talked about him.“Jon nodded slowly and looked away. “Yeah, Robb never really got over the fact that he lost his best friend.”
Relationships: Past Robb Stark/Jeyne Westerling - Relationship, Theon Greyjoy & Jeyne Poole, Theon Greyjoy/Robb Stark
Comments: 11
Kudos: 47





	1. Chapter 1

“So, that’s it. That was the last box.” Jeyne said out of breath as she placed the rather small cardboard box on the sofa in the living room of her new apartment. 

“Thank god.” Robb replied as he entered behind her, carrying a huge sports bag containing her winter clothes. He put it down next to the sofa and looked around. “I’m glad that everything went this well. I mean, who’d expected that Old Nan would finally move to Winterfell’s Home for the Elderly? My parents have been begging her for years.” He stopped and looked around. “And now you could move into an apartment right below me. That’ll make things a lot easier.”

He stood beside her and placed a kiss on her cheek as he put his hand on her growing baby belly. Robb and Jeyne had met in their second year in college and had started dating officially three months later. Their relationship had lasted for about seven years when they decided to end it for good. They still loved each other but agreed that it wasn’t enough to keep a romantic relationship going.  
Three weeks after their breakup, Jeyne discovered that she was pregnant with Robb’s child. Both of them agreed that an abortion was no option.

“Yeah.” Jeyne agreed with him as she leaned against his chest. “And I’m glad that we were able to work things out so easily.”

They’d had a really long talk and in the end they’d agreed that they would not get back together but would the child rise together.

\---

Back in his apartment, Robb looked through several boxes stood in his office room. One of them had ‘ROBB CHILDHOOD ROOM’ in big bold letters written across the side. He rummaged through the stuff inside until he held a slim square shaped cover in his hands. Robb looked down at the CD. He hadn’t thought of it in years quite apart from listening to it.

He smiled as he remembered how excited Theon had been back then as he had put it in the CD player und turned his new favorite song on. _Promise me_. He looked up and saw sixteen year old Theon appear in front of him, casually leaning against his desk.

“I loved that song.”

Robb smiled weakly. “Yeah, you really did.”

“It fit us so much.” Theon said slowly, his voice sounding oddly remote. “I wanted us to stay young forever.”

“We could have.” Robb murmured. “If you’d stayed at home and waited until I’d come to get you.”

Now a weak smile spread on Theon’s face. “Yeah, but you would have grown up anyway. No matter if I’d been with you or not.”

“You can’t know this. It would have been only ten months.”

Theon chuckled lightly. “Ten months… Gods, Stark, you’ve known me and my family for over ten years. The only reason I didn’t run away years earlier was you. And then you were gone and-“ he stopped.

Robb’s eyes started to burn. “A lot of things would have been easier if you’d been with me.”

“Sure. Me, the troublemaker, couldn’t stay out of trouble for more than a week, slept under a fucking bridge on a regular base because his dad was unbearable again… Should I continue?” Theon smiled fondly at him. “Look at you, best of the year, head boy, prom king, star quarterback at college, now a successful lawyer…”

“I wish you’d been there with me nonetheless.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“I miss you so much.”

Theon’s smile turned sad again. “Yeah, me too.”

Robb looked down at the CD again. “Where are you?” he whispered but when he looked up, his illusion of Theon had vanished.

\---

Jeyne opened the front door of her new apartment. “Hey Jon, I’m glad you could make it.” She greeted her ex future cousin in law. “Come in.”

Jon stood inside and placed kisses on both her cheeks. “Hi Jeyne, sure, you said it was urgent. Is something wrong wiht the baby?” His voice sounded slightly worried.

“No no, everything’s fine with her.” Jeyne smiled brightly at him as she walked him towards the living room. She’d made coffee and put two coffee mugs on the table next to a bowl of her self made cookies. “Sit down, please.”

Jon stopped in the doorway and his face lit up, too. “So you know the gender now?”

Jeyne laughed as she slowly sat down on the sofa and leaned back to make herself more comfortable. “No, actually not, it’s just my guess. I have a feeling that Robb and I are going to have a baby girl.”

“Robb’s going to be a great dad. He’s always wanted to have children. And he’ll love it more than everything, no matter if it’s a girl or a boy.” He assured her, sitting down next to her.

“I don’t doubt that.” Jeyne said and her smile slowly vanished from her face. “But that’s not the point. Not exactly, anyway. It’s about Robb, yes, he’s been acting weird since I’ve moved out.”

“What do you mean, ‘weird’?”

“Coffee?” she asked him as she reached for the pot of coffee and poured some into the mugs. “I don’t know how to say it but-“ she bit her lip and thought for a moment. “He’s been distant.”

“Maybe he’s just stressed at work, have you asked him?” Jon took one of the mugs and lifted it to his mouth. He blew into it to chill the hot coffee before he carefully took a sip.

“He told me that it’s nothing. And then he tried to act normal but after a while he was distant again. And he doesn’t stop listening to that song, it makes me crazy.”

“What song?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never heard it before and he’s playing it again and again and again.”

“What is it like?”

Jeyne blushed. “You want me to sing it?”

“Come on.” Jon smiled at her. “Your singing voice can’t be worse than Robb’s.”

She chuckled. “Okay. It’s-“ she cleared her throat and started to hum the melody. _“_ _We're getting old now, but I don't feel it, I say you're beautiful and I still mean it. And I don't wanna know what old age feels like. So promise me you won't give up on this life. And we'll be busy tryin' while the rest of them are dyin'-“_

_„Promise me_ _we'll never grow up, I don't wanna let go, I wanna stay young-“_ Jon joined her and then they stopped.

„You know that song?“

„Robb and Theon wouldn’t stop listening to it when we were younger…” Jon muttered. “It’s ‘ _Promise me’_ from a band called Badlfower.”

“Who’s Theon?” Jeyne asked with a frown.

Jon pressed his lips together. Robb hadn’t told her about Theon. On the other hand, who’d blame him for that?

“Theon used to be Robb’s best friend when we grew up.” Jon started.

Jeyne nodded slowly, looking up and trying to remember if Robb had ever mentioned someone named Theon. “Yeah, now that I think about it. He’s mentioned him. But only briefly, I wouldn’t have guessed that they used to be best friends.”

„How much did Robb tell you about his relationship with Theon?“ Jon asked her.

Jeyne shrugged. „As I said, not much. I barely remember actually. I’ve no idea in which context we talked about him.“

Jon nodded slowly and looked away. “Yeah, Robb never really got over the fact that he lost his best friend.” He paused for a moment, still not looking at Jeyne. “Gods, they loved each other so much.”

“They loved each other as… Friends?” Jeyne asked in an unsure voice.

Jon thought for a moment, considering how much about Robb’s and Theon’s relationship he wanted to share with her, before he finally looked back at her. “They’d actually been together since the age of thirteen. No one knew, besides me. Theon’s father would’ve killed him if he’d ever found out that his son was dating another guy.”

Jeyne remained silent, she didn’t know what to say. She absentmindedly put her hand on her belly and started to rub it in circles.

“As I said, Robb and Theon had been best friends since they’d met in elementary school. They were almost inseparable. On Robb’s thirteenth birthday the whole family and Theon went on a camping trip. There was a lake nearby and a rope to swing and jump into the water. One time Theon slipped and fell, his head hit a stone and he was brought to the hospital in an ambulance. He wouldn’t wake up for four days and Robb was worried sick, he thought he’d lose his best friend and he blamed himself because he wanted Theon to come along. That’s when he realized that Theon was more than just his best friend. Then he worried that he’d lose his best friend if Theon would find out that Robb had feelings for him. I don’t know any details but I caught them making out in Robb’s room about three months after Theon was released from hospital.” Jon took a deep breath and another sip from his coffee. “Then, when we were sixteen, Robb’s father, Uncle Ned got a promotion and we were to move to King’s Landing. It was heartbreaking, seeing them say goodbye. At first they talked and texted every day but suddenly, about a year after we’d moved, it got less frequent until one day Theon didn’t answer Robb’s calls or texts anymore. We knew that Theon and his father had a rocky relationship but- Robb and Theon, they’d had an agreement that when Theon would turn eighteen, Robb would come back to Winterfell and take him to King’s Landing. Robb begged his father that they should go immediately but Uncle Ned told him, that they couldn’t do anything because Theon was a minor and that he’d have to wait another ten months until Theon’s birthday. Then, when he finally arrived there, he only met Asha, Theon’s sister, who told him that their father had kicked Theon out months earlier and that she’d lost contact with him, too. Robb never talked about it again and that’s all I know.”

It took Jeyne a few moments to process what Jon’s just told her. It took her another few moments before she could bring herself to ask the question that had popped up in her mind, her pulse quickening. “Jon?”

“Huh?”

“Do you think Robb ever really loved me?”

Jon frowned, placed his mug on the coffee table to take Jeyne’s hands into his own. “What?! Jeyne- of course he did. Robb’s not the kind of guy who, you know, who’d pretend to have feelings and stuff. I mean, the two of you’d been together for almost ten years, hadn’t you?”

Jeyne smiled, seemingly relieved. “I’m kind of sorry for him. For Robb, I mean.”

“Yeah, Robb was in a really bad shape back then. He didn’t understand why Theon just disappeared without reaching out for him.”

They sat next to each other in silence, both lost in their thoughts.

“Jon, we need to do something about this.” Jeyne finally said.

“Do you have something in mind?”

“We need to find him.”

“Theon? He could be anywhere. We do not even know if he’s still in Westeros. For all I know he could moved to Essos…” Jon threw in.

Jeyne nodded slowly but then shook her head. “No, after all you’ve told me… I don’t think he’d moved away that far. Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d live in King’s Landing.”

“And how do you think of finding him?” Jon asked, still not convinced.

“Let that be my concern.” Jeyne smiled. “Even if Theon doesn’t live here, or in Westeros- if I could find out his address, this would be enough for a start. I don’t want Robb to be miserable any longer.”

“Alright.” Jon gave in, smiling too. “Call me if I can do anything to help you.”

**A month later**

Jon pulled his phone out as he realized it was buzzing silently in his pocket. It was Jeyne.

“Hey Jeyne. Everything’s okay?” he asked.

She remained silent for a moment. “Jon, I found him.”


	2. Chapter 2

“What do you mean? You found him?” Jon asked confused because he didn’t immediately get what Jeyne was trying to tell him.

“Theon? Robb’s childhood friend? We talked about looking for him?”

Theon. Right. “But- how?”

“Not on the phone.” Jeyne replied. “What are you up to tonight? Can you come over?”

Jon looked down at his watch. 3 pm. He thought for a moment, checking his schedule for that day. He would have to work until six, his date with Ygritte would be at eight. He decided to cancel that. Ygritte would understand if he explained it to her. “Sure, how about 7pm?”

“Great. See you then.” Jeyne said.

“Bye, Jeyne.”

Four hours later Jon got out of his car he’d parked in front of the building of Jeyne’s and Robb’s apartments. He prayed to god that Robb wasn’t at home and he wouldn’t crash into him accidently. How was he to explain why he was there, visiting his cousin’s ex-girlfriend. Jeyne and Jon had always gotten along but they’d never been close enough to meet without Robb.

He rang the bell and Jeyne immediately opened the front door for him. He went up to Jeyne’s apartment just to see her standing already outside in the hallway.

“Hey.” She greeted him and walked him inside to her living room. Again she had coffee and cookies prepared on the coffee table. This time Jon reached for the pot and filled the hot beverage into the mugs. He watched the steam rise and waited for Jeyne to begin.

“So, I started with just googling him. All I could find were some entries from back when he still was in Winterfell…”

“There are google entries about him from Winterfell?” Jon asked with a frown.

“Nothing important just something about him taking part in archery tourneys and stuff. He used to be pretty good, he won a lot of medals.”

Jon nodded slowly, he had totally forgotten about that.

“Then I continued with Facebook, Instagram-“

“Don’t you think Robb would have checked that? I’m pretty sure he tried to find him on social media over the years.” He interrupted her.

“Sure. But he would have searched for Theon Greyjoy, wouldn’t he?” and a sly smile spread on her face.

“Of course. What else?” Jon frowned as Jeyne reached for the laptop next to her and turned the screen towards Jon.

“Well, I started with that, too. No entries, neither on Facebook nor on Instagram nor anything else.” She continued. “But from all you told me about him and Robb… Some idea came to my mind and I was like, why shouldn’t I give it a try.”

“I can’t follow you.”

“What about Theon Stark?” she pointed towards a short article of King’s Landing Times about a café re-opening.

“What the hell?” Jon grabbed the laptop and looked closely. “I can’t believe that.”

There was a small picture and the quality wasn’t very good but it was unmistakably Theon. Theon standing in front of that café next to an elderly man and young woman with wavy brown hair. Jon started cross-reading the article that was already three years old.

_New café… Theon Stark now running the café… homemade pastries…_

He stopped reading, put the laptop onto his knees and looked out of the window. His brain needed some time to process of what he’d just read.

“It’s him, isn’t it?” Jeyne asked, bringing him back to reality.

Jon only nodded. “I can’t believe you found him… Theon Stark, I can’t believe that.”

“So, what do you say? When are we going?”

“The article is already three years old. Do you think that café is still there?”

Jeyne smiled and nodded. “I looked for it on Instagram.” She reached for her phone on the coffee table, wiped on the screen and held it towards Jon. There were a lot of pictures of cookies, cupcakes, muffins, croissants and hot beverages like coffee, cappuccino, hot chocolate and stuff. “The latest entry is-“ she opened the first picture on the screen. “ from today. Freshly made donuts with raspberry jam and covered with white chocolate… Jon, freshly made donuts…” Jeyne said with a dreamy expression on her face. "Raspberry jam and white chocolate..."

Jon sighed. “Alright. What are the opening hours?”

\---

Jon and Jeyne entered the small café the following Saturday.

“I’m so excited.” Jeyne said as the door bell rang as they opened the door. Jon remained silent, he still tried to figure out what to think of the whole thing. Robb had called to ask if he wanted to go for a jog but Jon quickly came up with some excuse about how Ygritte was complaining that Jon spent too much time at work and stuff. And Robb believed the lie. Jon couldn’t believe that this had worked, Ygritte would never complain about that. Jon hated that he had to lie to Robb.

They walked over to the counter where the brown haired woman they had seen on the picture in the newspaper was refilling the cupcakes. Jon looked around, examining the room, the counter with all the pastries, the back where some pretty comfortable looking armchairs were arranged around some coffee tables.

She looked up at them and smiled. “Hi. What can I do for you?”

Jon cleared his throat. “Hi. Uhm, my name is Jon and this is Jeyne-“ he pointed to his left side where Jeyne was standing.

The woman’s face lit up. “Hey, my name’s Jeyne, too.”

“Yeah, what a coincidence-“ Jon continued. “Anyway, we’re looking for Theon Greyjoy.”

The smile of the other Jeyne’s face slowly faded and was replaced by a suspicious frown. She raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t know someone who’s called Theon Greyjoy-“

“Jeyne, I’m a childhood friend of him and I need to see him.” Jon interrupted him.

She nodded slowly. “A childhood friend.” She stated and remained silent for a moment, eyeing him suspiciously. “Where did you say you come from?”

“Winterfell.”

“I’ll be back in a minute. Sit down, please.” She pointed towards the armchairs and coffee tables as she turned around and left through a door to the kitchen.

Jon and Jeyne looked at each other and decided to sit down on the comfortable dark green ones in the backmost corner of the room.

Five minutes later Jeyne came back. “Do you want something? Coffee and a cupcake? It’s on the house.”

“That would be great, those muffins look delicious. I’d like one with blueberries, please. And a hot chocolate.” Jeyne said with a smile.

“Just a coffee, black. Thanks.” Jon said.

Jeyne walked over to the coffee machine and grabbed two cups from the cupboard.

Jeyne and Jon sat there in silence, avoiding eye contact with each other. Jon placed his hands on his knees because he didn’t know what else to do with them. He would meet Theon in a few moments. What would he do? They hadn’t seen each other since the day the Stark family moved to the capital. He looked towards Jeyne who was uncomfortably shifting on the armchair. She put one of her hands on her growing belly and started rubbing it in circles.

The door behind the counter opened and a tall man with dark medium length hair walked in. Jon hadn’t seen Theon in a long time but he recognized him immediately. In the corner of his eyes he could see that Jeyne’s cheeks turned slightly red. Theon had always been attractive but now he looked absolutely stunning. Even Jon had to admit that.

Theon walked around the counter where Jeyne was still preparing their orders. She looked up to meet his gaze with a slight smile, giving him a short nod. Theon continued towards them but stopped a few meters away from then. Jon got up from his armchair. “Theon.” He said with a serious expression.

Theon nodded slowly, his expression as serious as Jon’s. “Jon.”

Then they both smiled at each other and stepped forward to pull each other into a tight hug.

They separated a few seconds later and Theon sat down on a third armchair at the coffee table. He introduced himself to Jeyne, still smiling. “Hi, I’m Theon. Nice to meet you.”

Jeyne shook his hand. “Jeyne. Nice to meet you, too.” 

“Man, I thought for a moment you would just punch me in the face.” Theon turned towards Jon again.

“Honestly, I’d considered that.”

Theon chuckled and sighed. “So, what are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same question.” Jon said. “You’ve been in King’s Landing for at least three years and you’ve never tried to reach out for Robb.”

Theon bit his lip and looked to the side, talking more to himself than to Jon and Jeyne. “I thought that this was coming.” Then he looked back at Jon. “Do you really think it was easy for me to live here, knowing Robb lived only a few kilometers away and not trying to contact him?” he swallowed hard. “There hasn’t been a single day I didn’t think of him.”

Jon remained silent, waiting for Theon to continue but they were interrupted by the other Jeyne serving them their drinks and Jeyne’s muffin.

“Thanks.” They said and Jeyne left for the backroom.

Theon reached for his cup and took a sip from it. He cleared his throat before he continued. “I’m thinking about where to start.”

“How about what happened after we left Winterfell?” Jon suggested.

“Alright. You certainly know that Robb and I kept in touch for the first few months.”

Jon nodded.

“Well, one day, my dear father found out that Robb and I were more than just best friends.” He stopped and looked nervously at Jeyne.

Jon followed his gaze. “It’s okay. Jeyne already knows, I told her.”

“I’m sorry that your and Robb’s relationship didn’t work out.” Theon said quietly.

“You know?” Jeyne asked with a surprised expression on her face.

“Even though I never reached out for him, I’ve always followed what he was doing.” He gave her a crooked smile. “Anyway, my father found out, we had a big fight and he took my phone away. The fight got bigger and he finally threw me out. I crashed at a friend’s couch for about a week, then I met with Asha and she gave me some money. It was not long before I would turn eighteen so I decided to keep my feet still and make my way to King’s Landing. On my way I met Jeyne.” He pointed towards the backroom. “She was on her way to the capital, too, so we decided to go together. It took us a while. We had to take care that the police wouldn’t become aware of us, you know, two teenagers hitchhiking, sleeping outside and stuff. If they’d caught us they would have brought us back to our families in no time.”

He paused and took another sip from his cup as Jon and Jeyne listened closely.

“I turned eighteen a week after we arrived here. We met an elderly man, the previous owner of this café, Mr. Manderly. He let us live in the apartment above and we started working here after school. This was one of his conditions, that Jeyne and I finished school. Sorry, I digress. It took me some time to find out your new address. I didn’t have Robb’s number, you know how bad I’ve always been at memorizing them. Then, one day, I showed up at yours but Robb wasn’t there. Catelyn opened the door…”

An uneasy feeling spread in Jon’s chest. Robb’s mother had never liked Theon. In fact she despised him. She thought he was too much trouble for her golden boy and didn’t approve of their friendship.

Theon nodded as if he’d read Jon’s mind. “You see where this is going.”

Jon nodded, too.

“She opened the door. She didn’t even say ‘Hello’ or anything. It was just ‘What do you want?’ I told her that I wanted to see Robb and she told me that he wasn’t there. Then she said that if I’d ever come back to their house or if I’d ever tried to come anywhere near Robb, she would ruin my entire life.”

Jon sighed. “Cat, lovely as ever.”

“Yeah. I told her that there’s nothing she could do to make me stay away from Robb and left. Three days later a man showed up on my way back home after school. The man didn’t say anything, he didn't have to. I don’t want to go into detail but-“ he swallowed hard at the memory and scratched the back of his neck. “I had to stay in the hospital for three days.”

Jeyne’s eyes widened.

“Then I decided that it would be better to follow her order.”

Jon shook his head slowly. “Theon, it’s been years since then. You’re both grown men now. Do you really think Catelyn would still do anything to you? If you met Robb and Catelyn would find out, I’m pretty sure he would tell her to leave you alone.”

“Do you really think that Robb would want to see me?”

“Robb’s been listening to ‘Promise me’ for days now.” Jeyne threw in. She leaned forward, well as much forward as her belly allowed her to, took his hand and squeezed it lightly. “I think he would want to see you.”

Theon gave her another crooked smile. “’Promise me’? I haven’t heard that song for years…”

“I really think you should meet him.”

“I don’t know.” He bit his lip.

“Alright.” Jon said and took the last sip of his coffee. He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and laid it down on the coffee table in front of Theon. “This is my address. Tomorrow evening, 7pm. Robb will be there, I won’t tell him that we’ve been here or that we met you.” He stood up and straightened his back. “Now it’s up to you. Jeyne, ready to leave?”

Jeyne finished her muffin and stood up, too, and smiled at Theon. “Please, tell Jeyne the muffin was delicious.”

Theon nodded and smiled slyly. “I made them actually.”

Jeyne chuckled. “Bye, Theon.” She walked towards the door to give Jon and Theon the opportunity to talk in private.

“As I said, it’s up to you now.” Jon said an put a hand on Theon’s shoulder, then he turned around to follow Jeyne outside.

“Jon.”

He turned around. Theon had gotten up, too. “7pm, I’ll be there.”

**The next day**

“So, what is so urgent that it couldn’t wait until tomorrow?” Robb asked as he sat down on Jon’s couch.

Jon paced through the living room, looking down at his watch about every thirty seconds. It was already ten past seven. Theon was late, he should have known that he couldn’t rely on him. Thank god he hadn’t told Robb why he’d asked him to come over.

“Jon?”

“Huh?”

“Why am I here? You said it was urgent. And now you’re nervously pacing around. Stop that, it makes me nervous, too. What’s wrong?”

“Huh.” Jon scratched the side of his neck. “Nothing.”

Robb cocked his head to the side and squinted his eyes together. “Jon? What’s going on?” he stood up from the couch as the door bell rang. They both turned their heads around and Jon was about to open the door as Ygritte already walked past the living room door.

“I’ll do that.” She said casually, Jon had told her what was going on.

Robb turned back towards Jon. “Are you going to tell me what’s-?”

“Sorry, I’m late, the traffic…” they heard a voice from the hallway.

Jon sighed in relief and looked at Robb, a smile spreading in his face. “There’s someone who wants to see you.”

Robb frowned but turned around and stared at the dark haired man behind him. “Theon?”

A nervous smile spread on Theon’s face, who couldn’t stop shifting from foot to foot. Something he had already done when they were younger. “Hey Robb, long time no see.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Robb**

“Theon?” Robb blinked several times as he tried to figure out if this was actually happening. He hadn’t seen Theon in what? Almost ten years? And now he showed up just like that in Jon’s apartment?

He took a step forward, then another until he’d almost reached Theon and before he knew what he was about to do, he lifted his fist and punched him right in the face.

That had been ten minutes ago and he still felt like it’s been a weird dream or something. The fact that he was now sitting on the edge of the bathtub in Jon’s bathroom was proof enough that he wasn’t thinking straight. He stared absentmindedly at his hands. He flinched as the fingers of his other hand ran slowly over his reddened knuckles. It still hurt from where his fist had made contact with Theon’s cheek.

Stupid Robb. He should have left the apartment entirely. But instead he was now trapped in the small room at the opposite end of the hallway. He would have to pass the living room again to get to the front door.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

“Robb?”

“Fuck off!” Robb hissed. _Fucking traitor_. Jon should have told him beforehand. Instead he had lured him into this situation completely unprepared. Robb hated that. He hated that he didn’t know what to do and felt totally helpless.

All these years he had wondered what had happened to Theon and why he had run away instead of waiting for him to come and get him. It was true, he had thought a lot about Theon recently, especially after Jeyne had moved out. But seeing him again in person was a whole different thing.

“Robb! You’re being ridiculous!” he heard Jon’s voice through the bathroom door. “Come out and we’ll talk about everything.”

“I said ‘Fuck off’! I have nothing to say!” A barefaced lie and Robb knew that. He and Theon would have a lot to talk about but he couldn’t bring himself to look at Theon’s face right now. He couldn’t have a normal conversation with him, not until he had calmed down.

He got up from the bathtub and walked over to the sink. He turned the tap on and splashed some of the cold water into his face. He grabbed a fresh towel from the bathroom cabinet and dried his face and hands with it. He didn’t bother himself with hanging it neatly on the towel rack and threw it on the floor instead.

“Jon?” he asked in a low voice as he stepped towards the door.

“I’m here.”

“I’m coming out now. I’ll leave immediately and I don’t want anyone to talk to me.” Robb stated. “Especially _him_.”

He could hear Jon’s deep sigh through the closed door and he was pretty sure that he was rolling his eyes hard, too. He heard some whispering and then Jon talked to him again.

“Okay. Would you please open the door now?”

Robb took a deep breath before he reached for the key and unlocked the door. He stepped outside and turned immediately towards the front door.

“Robb?” Jon tried to reach out for him but Robb shook his hand off.

He turned around to face his cousin, looking at him with a mixture of disappointment and betrayal. “You could have at least warned me. And we’ll talk about this.”

As he passed the door to the living room he saw Theon standing on the balcony, smoking, while Ygritte was talking to him. Robb frowned, he had no idea how many times he had told him to stop it. Smoking was stupid, unhealthy and he’d hated the way Theon tasted when they kissed. He had once refused to kiss Theon until he would quit smoking. It had lasted for almost a week until both of them gave in. But that was ages ago. Their eyes briefly met as Theon exhaled the smoke and Robb continued to make his way out of the apartment.

**Theon**

“Well, I guess- Thanks-“ he stopped as he pressed the pack of ice Ygritte had just brought him from the kitchen onto his cheekbone. “I mean, his reaction is really not that surprising, is it?” he looked from Jon to Ygritte, waiting for an answer. “I would have probably done the same if it had been him who just disappeared all these years ago and then showed up again all of a sudden.”

He sighed and sat down on the couch.

“Cheer up!” Jon told him with an encouraging smile. “He’ll calm down and get his shit together. The two of you’ll talk things out and everything will be fine.”

“I hope so.” Theon muttered.

“I’ll talk to him.” Jon said as he left towards the hallway. “He’s acting like a child… Running away and hiding…” he turned around with a sly smile towards Theon. “That’s actually your signature move, Greyjoy.”

“Haha, very funny.” Theon answered but with a small smile on his face, too. “I see your sense of humor hasn’t changed, Snow.”

Ygritte watched after her boyfriend as he left the room. She looked out of the window and frowned. Theon didn’t know her but he could see that she had something on her mind.

“So, what are you going to do if he doesn’t change his mind and doesn’t want to see you? Not just for now?”

Theon thought for a moment, that had crossed his mind, too, and he nodded slowly. “I have no right to demand anything from him but-“ he bit his lip. “I won’t give up just like that. I made that mistake once and I will not lose him a second time.”

“That sounds good.”

They heard footsteps and Jon entered the living room again. “He says he wants to leave and that he doesn’t want to talk to you, Theon, and I think we should respect his wish.”

“Would it be okay if I used your balcony?” Theon asked as he pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pockets.

“Gods, Greyjoy, since when have you bothered with asking for permission?” Jon chuckled.

Ygritte rolled her eyes. “Sure.” She turned towards Theon. “I’ll keep you company.” She said as she opened the door, stepping outside.

Theon sighed deeply as he lit his cigarette. One moment later he saw Robb passing the living room and their eyes met for a second before Robb turned his head down and disappeared through the front door.

He finished his cigarette and put it into an empty beer can Ygritte had put on the railing. They stepped inside with Theon closing the door behind him quietly. “So, uhm, thanks for everything.”

“I’m sorry it turned out like that.” Jon said as he put a hand on Theon’s shoulder and squeezed it lightly.

“No, don’t be, I’m glad you and Jeyne showed up at the café and made me realize that I can’t run away from him anymore. I hope you guys come around more often, Jeyne’s like pretty excited to get to know you. And Robb.” He added.

“Promise me you won’t give up until you could talk things out properly.” Ygritte said as he walked past her.

He nodded and returned her smile. “I promise.”

**Jon & Ygritte**

As soon as they’d heard Theon close the front door behind him they let themselves fall on the couch.

“Well, that went not the way I had hoped for.” Jon sighed.

“Yeah.” Ygritte patted his shoulder softly. “I’ve never seen Robb that… I don’t know… Angry is the wrong word? Confused? Upset?”

“Sure, I guess it just wasn’t a good idea to bring Theon here to meet him.”

“The idea was good, it still is. It’s just… Maybe you should have told him. Not everything of course but- give him some time, he’ll figure everything out and then get in touch with him.” She said as she casually leaned back and lifted her hand to card through his dark locks. “Come on, Snow. Put your shoes on, we’re going to the ‘Free Folk’. Tormund will cheer you up for sure.”

Jon thought for a moment before he got up from the couch. “Alright. But I’ll call Jeyne first. She should look after Robb, I don’t want him to be alone after that mess.”

“Maybe he wants to be alone.” Ygritte objected.

“Well, in that case he’ll find a nice way to tell his pregnant ex girlfriend without offending her.” He answered with a wink. “Fucking charmer.”

They put their shoes on, grabbed their wallets and left for the bar. While leaving the building Jon pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed Jeyne’s number.”

**Jeyne**

“Sure, Jon. I get it. Yeah… Alright… I’ll text you later. Thanks for calling me… Yes… Yes, Jon. Tell Ygritte I said ‘Hi’. Yeah, bye, Jon.” Jeyne sighed deeply as she ended the call and threw her phone next to her on the couch.

Shit. Their plan had backfired. But who would have imagined that Robb would have acted like this?

She got up and went to the kitchen. She put the kettle on, got a mug and a bag of her favorite tea from the cupboard and waited for the water to boil. Jon had said that Robb had left some time ago so he would be home soon. She poured the hot water into the mug and returned to the living room.

She decided to watch another episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, her current favorite show. She had almost finished the second episode and the whole mug of tea when she finally heard a quite familiar song play in the apartment above.

Jeyne sighed, got up and caught the box of muffins she’d bought earlier that day in Theon’s café. She and the other Jeyne had had a really nice chat.

A few minutes later she knocked on Robb’s door. She heard the music stop and then footsteps behind it.

Robb blinked as he opened the door and saw Jeyne standing in front of it. “Hey Robb. I bought muffins.” She smiled as she held the box up.

“Hi Jeyne. That’s really nice of you but I’m really sorry, I’m not in the mood.”

“Come on, Robb, They’re delicious. And I’m bored and I don’t want to be alone right now.” She looked at him with puppy eyes.

Robb sighed and stepped to the side, granting her access to his apartment.

_“Yes.”_ Jeyne triumphed internally as she walked to Robb’s living room. She placed the box on the coffee table and sat down on the armchair.

“Do you want to drink something?”

“Sparkling water, please?”

“Right, one moment.”

She heard him rummaging around in the kitchen before he returned with two glasses of water to join her. He handed her one and she took a sip.

“So, what do you want to do? Play cards, watch a movie?”

“I don’t know. Can we just- just talk maybe? Tell me about your day. What did you do?”

Robb sighed dramatically. “I don’t want to talk about it. Can we talk about your day? How are you feeling?”

“No. No, no, no. Robb, you can’t sigh like that and then say you don’t want to talk about it.”

Robb sighed again. “Okay, okay. Where do I even start? Jon called this morning and asked if I could come over. I came over and he acted all weird and wouldn’t tell me why he asked me to come to his place. It turned out that he had also invited someone I haven’t seen in a long time and- I don’t know. I was just so shocked to see him that I completely freaked out and left.”

Jeyne nodded slowly, she already knew that much.

“Who was it?”

Robb remained silent for a moment and looked out of the window.

“Theon. Theon Greyjoy. I don’t know if I’ve ever told you about him. He used to be my best friend back from where we lived in Winterfell.”

Jeyne didn’t interrupt him.

“We moved to King’s Landing and he said he would come, too, as soon as he’d turned eighteen but he just disappeared instead and I haven’t heard from him or seen him since we said goodbye.”

“You were really close, weren’t you?”

“Yeah, but whatever…”

“And what happened at Jon’s? Did the two of you talk?”

Robb shook his head. “No, as I said, I freaked out and locked myself into the bath room and then left. I walked around a little after I’d left Jon’s and tried to sort my thoughts..:”

“I see. Now you had some time to think about it, so… Can you tell me a little more about Theon?”

“As I said, we grew up together and were best friends.”

“You haven’t seen him in years and instead of being happy to see him again you just freaked out and punched him in the face?”

Robb bit his lip. “Maybe he was a little more- wait- I didn’t tell you that I punched him.” He threw her a suspicious glance. “How do you know about it?”

Jeyne made a face. “Jon called me.” She confessed. “Robb, don’t be mad but I have to tell you something…” and then she told him about her research after he wouldn’t stop listening to ‘Promise me’ and her and Jon’s visit at Theon’s café.

“So you already knew?”

“But I also wanted to hear it from you in person…” she said with a guilty expression on her face.

“What am I supposed to do now?” he asked her in a low voice. She could hear that he wasn’t angry at her so she leaned forward, placed her hand on his and squeezed it softly.

“Well, I had some time to think about something while you were wandering around…” she said.

**One week later**

**Jeyne P**

Saturday morning, 7 am. The sun was shining outside and no one could be seen on the street outside. This was Jeyne’s favorite time of that day. She loved getting up early, coming to the café and prepare the pastries for the day without ruffle or excitement. She would make herself a huge cup of coffee and sit outside and enjoy the hot beverage before going to the kitchen where the sweet smell of their delicacies from the day before still lingered.

At 9 am she opened the door for their customers and stood behind the counter to wait for the first person to come in. Barely ten minutes passed as she heard the bell ring and the scratching of the door on the floor. A tall man with auburn curls and bright blue eyes walked in and stood in front of the counter.

“Hi, I’m looking for-“ he said with a nervous smile on his face.

“Theon. I know.” She interrupted him as a bright smile spread on her face, too. “I’m Jeyne. Poole. It’s nice to finally meet you, Robb.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i won't be able to update this anytime soon, sorry :(
> 
> fun fact: my current favorite show is brooklyn nine-nine, too :)


	4. Chapter 4

**One week earlier - Sunday**

“Well, that was not quite what I had expected.” Theon mumbled as he put his key into the lock of the front door of his and Jeyne’s apartment right above the café. He had briefly thought about going for a long walk to sort his thoughts but had decided to head directly home instead.

He went inside and kicked his shoes into the corner of the hallway and threw his black leather jacket onto the chair stood next to them. “Jeyne?”

“In the living room.” He heard her shout from the first room on the left side. “I wasn’t in the mood to cook today so I got some Chinese take away. I hope you don’t mind. Yours is in the fridge.”

Theon chuckled. That was exactly what he needed right now. Comfort food. “I don’t mind at all. Thanks.” He called back and went to the kitchen right across the living room. He got some chopsticks from the cutlery drawer and put them in the back pocket of his jeans before he opened the fridge. He saw the box with Chinese food in the middle shelf next to some beer cans. He shrugged and grabbed the food box and two cans of beer.

Jeyne sat cross-legged in her armchair, absorbed in some book. Absentmindedly she stroked the Siamese-mixed cat that was curled up in her lap. She didn’t even look up as Theon entered the room and put the beer can on the wooden armrest. “Thanks. Bon appétit!”

“You’re welcome.” Theon said as he sat down on the couch next to Jeyne’s armchair. He heard a light snap as the chopsticks broke to pieces. “Shit.” He got up to get new ones from the kitchen and throw the broken ones into the trash can.

“How’s Crookshanks doing?” Theon asked as he sat down and placed the box of food in front of him on the coffee table.

“Fine, he’s not mad at me anymore because I took him to the vet yesterday… Anyway, how was your date? I didn’t expect you to come home that early.” Jeyne stated as he leaned forward to open the box and the beer can. He took a long sip of the cold beverage before holding the can softly to his bruised cheekbone.

“Ouch.” He hissed in a low voice which made Jeyne finally look up.

“Holy shit, what happened to your face?!” she asked with a frown.

“Well, first of all, I wouldn’t call it a date and second-“ he sighed. “- I would say that Robb wasn’t that happy to see me again. To put it mildly.”

Jeyne put her book to the side and opened her beer.

“You’re reading Harry Potter again?” Theon asked casually as he struggled a bit with eating the fried noodles because his hands were still trembling a little.

“Don’t change the subject, Theon.” Jeyne said in a serious voice. “You were supposed to have a big romantic reunion with the love of your life and now you show up, barely an hour after you’d left, with a bad bruise on your cheek.”

Theon snorted. “Big romantic reunion?! We were only at a friend's house not some fancy restaurant or park or anything...” Then he made a face. “It doesn’t look that bad, does it?”

“Maybe not right now but tomorrow for sure. And the day after tomorrow will be even worse.”

“Then I’ll just borrow your concealer.” He said in a way too relaxed voice as he put some noodles into his mouth.

“Forget it. Your complexion is different from mine.”

“So what?”

“So what? You have to get concealer which matches your skin tone, stupid, or your black eye will show anyway. Put it on the list on the kitchen counter, I have to go to drugstore tomorrow anyway.”

“Thanks.”

“And now tell me what happened with Robb.”

Theon sighed deeply and told Jeyne what had happened.

She nodded slowly as he finished. “I see… and I’m sorry for that. But the most important question is: what are we going to do now?”

“ _We_ aren't going to do anything. What _I’m_ going to do now is... Nothing, of course. Robb doesn’t want to see me and I won’t pressure him into something he isn’t ready for.”

Jeyne took a deep breath, gave him a compassionate smile and reached out to touch his arm. “You’re sad about it, aren’t you?”

“Of course I am. I mean… I would lie if I hadn’t thought that this would turn out differently… We haven’t met in quite a long time and…” Theon sighed again and rolled his eyes.

“Everything will be fine eventually.”

He looked up to meet her gaze. “Don’t even think about it.”

“What do you mean?” she took a sip from her beer.

“I know what you’re up to. You’re already planning the next reunion in your head.”

Jeyne pouted and took another sip to obviously play out some time. She raised her eyebrows. “I’m not.”

“Of course you are.”

“Fine, I am. And it will be epic.” She snapped back but smiled anyway. “And you can’t stop me. After all you’ve told me about Robb… the two of you are meant to be and these- let’s call it difficulties- won’t change that.”

Theon nodded slowly. “Alright. But please tell me what you’re up to early enough.”

**This week, Saturday morning – a few minutes past nine**

“I’m Jeyne. Poole. It’s nice to finally meet you, Robb.”

Robb chuckled nervously. “Hi Jeyne, nice to meet you, too.” He scratched the back of his head as he hesitated for a moment. “I don’t know where to start…”

“Well, I would think that Jon and Jeyne told you that Theon is in King’s Landing, now being the owner of a café and where you can find said café?”

He nodded with a smile. “Pretty much.” He bit his lip and remained silent for a moment. “Is Theon there?”

“Actually, not. He’s gone to the market to get some baking ingredients I still need today.”

“Huh, okay.”

“But you could sit down and wait for him.” Jeyne suggested and pointed towards the armchairs in the back of the café. “He should be back in about half an hour. At most.”

“Alright.”

“Can I offer you something? Coffee, Cappuccino, Latte Macchiato? And a cupcake?”

Robb looked at the counter for a moment. “Thank god, I’m starving. I was too nervous to eat something at home…" he admitted. "I’d like a coffee, black without sugar, and one of these cranberry white chocolate blondies, please.”

“Sit down, I’ll bring it to you.”

“Thanks.” Robb smiled at her and walked towards the armchairs. He chose one where he could see the front door and sat down. A short time later Jeyne came over with a tray and placed it on the table. She put his coffee and blondie in front of him and took a cup of hot chocolate for herself. Robb took the blondie first and bit off quite a big piece. “Gods, that’s delicious.”

Jeyne smiled. “You can thank Theon for that. He makes the blondies. And brownies and muffins and cupcakes.”

Robb chewed and swallowed and then raised his eyebrows. “What?”

“Yeah. When we started to work here, we decided to split the work and Theon was better at making this kind of stuff.” Jeyne explained. "I'm more into cakes and pies..."

“Huh, I didn’t expect that. I’d never thought that Theon was interested in baking and stuff. When we were younger he was more into sports, I always thought he would end up being a professional archer or something.”

Jeyne chuckled. “He actually thought about that but then he discovered that he liked baking and cooking and that he was actually quite good at it.”

Robb finished his blondie, put the plate back on the table and stared at the crumbs for a moment. “I have so many questions actually…”

“And I’m pretty sure that Theon is the one who can answer most of them.”

“Yeah, that’s why I’m here.” Robb said and looked up at Jeyne. “And to apologize. I shouldn’t have punched him.”

Jeyne shrugged. “He isn’t mad at you.”

“He should be. A little at least.”

“But he isn’t. After all, I don’t think there’s anything you could do to make him get mad at you.”

Robb sighed as he looked to his left where a few pictures were hanging on the wall.

“You know, I’ve known him for quite some time now and I can assure you… there hasn’t been a single day he hasn’t thought about you in the last years.”

They sat in silence as Robb was still staring at the pictures. There were a few of Theon standing next to Jeyne and an old man he assumed to be the original owner Mr. Manderly. Then there were some of different baked goods most likely made by Jeyne and Theon. And in the middle of the collage was a picture of himself and Theon, smiling brightly into the camera. He frowned. It was the picture taken on the camping trip they had made for his birthday. “He kept this all those years… I gave it to him when we moved to King’s Landing.” He said after quite a long time as he bit his lip and looked back at Jeyne. “He told me that his dad had thrown it away after a fight.”

“He did actually. Theon decided to hang it up there because so he could look at it every day." she paused and thought for a moment. "Well, I guess I can tell you that much. When his father threw it away... That was the point where Theon decided to run away and make his way here. He got up late at night and rummaged through the dumpster until he found the picture. The next day he and his dad had another fight and his dad kicked him out.” 

Robb made a sad face. “Why has he never tried to get in touch with me?”

“Uhm, he has actually. But I think that’s something Theon should tell you himself.”

Robb looked down at his watch. Almost 10 am, he had already been there for almost an hour.

Jeyne followed his gaze and looked at her own watch. “He should be back soon.”

“Yeah, the thing is… I have another appointment this morning and have to go now. I guess I should have called before I came here…” Robb said as he got up and then turned around towards Jeyne again, pulling a business card from his pocket. “Well, uhm, could you probably give him my phone number?”

“How about you give it to me yourself?” he heard a voice say from behind him. Robb startled and turned around and there he stood. Theon. With a small smile on his face. “Hi Robb.”

Robb blinked several times before he set into motion. He took a few steps forward, this time not to punch him but to pull him into a tight hug. “Hi Theon.” He whispered into his neck as Theon wrapped his arms around Robb’s waist to return his hug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry that updating takes so long at the moment...


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